U-Pass

(Seeing as the U-Pass fee has already been passed I don't see a point in expressing our opinions about the topic because it won't do anything to change the outcome but here it goes...)

I am a supporter of the $20 bus fee. I don't understand why anyone would be against a bill like this. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention when the bill was being looked at slash voted on by the senate (or whichever student group is in charge of adding things to our tuition), but my friend offered to give me a "I'd ride that" t-shirt, so I had to pretend to be interested while he rambled on and on about the benefits of a mandatory $20 fee. Even though I don't ride the bus anywhere, knowing that I can take the bus if I ever need to is comforting. In addition, the humanitarian side of me knows that there are people who don't have cars (I don't have my own car, but my brother goes to Punahou, which is right next to UHM so I get dropped off and picked up) and are totally reliant on the bus system to travel to their destination. I don't know how much it is for a monthly bus pass, but because everyone is paying and the fees are spread among more people, people that do take the bus get a nice price cut. The price of the fee is just right because $20 seems to be a manageable amount for anyone to pay. Paying $20 per month extra is not a big deal, especially when UH's in-state tuition is one of the lowest in the nation. I'm just happy that I don't have to pay upwards of $40,000 per year to go to a college that is worse than, on level ground with or only slightly more highly regarded than UHM. College is what you make it, blah blah blah...(Some of my friends went away to average schools on the mainland when they could probably have stayed here and done just as badly.)

Of couse, I'm sure one of the reasons this bill was passed was so that UHM can brag that it is doing its part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Obviously that is total bullshit. In order for that to happen, the people who drive to school would need to start using their shiny new bus passes to take the bus. If the people who drive can afford to pay for parking and gas then $20 should be no big deal to them and they can keep on living their lives. Everyone wins.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say that the mandatory athletic fee isn't such a bad idea, either. Maybe UH athletics doesn't have as big a fan base as does the bus system, but implementing a fee could still do a lot of good for our school. First of all, UH is the only school in the WAC that doesn't have an athletics fee. How can we expect to compete with other schools for recruits when our facilities look like dumping grounds and our athletic program is constantly cutting costs? Does anyone remember what happened in 2007? The UHM football team went undefeated in the regular season and ended up in the Sugar Bowl in Louisiana. It take a lot of impartiality towards your school to say you don't care what happened and that you don't care if that happens again. Let me say that a moment like that might never happen again, unless we buttress the UH athletics program so that they can at least get on their feet! The school lost a lot of money in the past year because of the recession, but the athletics program took an additional hit. The lack of fan support at UH home games is one thing, but not lending financial support is downright sad. Do you realize that UH gets paid when it competes in a bowl game? Or that football is the number one money maker for any school's athletic department? Other schools get funded because of the revenue brought in by football. Come on! The tuition here is SO low compared to other schools! If you think about it from the perspective that we are SAVING money, paying $20 for a bus pass and $50 or so to the athletic department is manageable.